The Sunshine Warms Your Soul
by LordLanceahlot
Summary: A series of one-shots revolving around Bella and Edward's tender and playful relationship. Chapter 4 -- Awkward moments abound when Edward gets a little too happy to see Bella.
1. I am staggered by your beauty

The sweet summer air sifted through the grass, blowing a breeze across Bella's sun warmed limbs. Edward's icy chest pressed beneath her cheek, a stark contrast that sent shivers radiating across her chest until they dissolved in the warm stream of her blood. She shut her eyes, threading her fingers lazily through the dirt in the earth below them.

Edward was still, a marble statue in their secret meadow. His only concession to life was the breeze that just barely ruffled his hair, and the flush of color on his kiss-bruised lips. She lay directly on top of him, stretched out across his lean body like a child cuddling her favorite blanket.

"Yes, Bella?" the marble beneath her rumbled. A blush spread across her cheeks. Her fingers had trailed, completely of their own accord, from the earth to underneath his shirt. She was tracing the cold stone of his stomach, marring the pale, sparkling skin with smudges of dirt. Leaning up a little and sliding off him, she pushed his shirt up a little farther up his chest. He laid still, giving her a curious look, but allowing her fancy.

His chest was smooth, completely unblemished by scar or freckles, and her eyes trailed across the wide expanse of his shoulders, down to his flat stomach and the thin line of hair that disappeared down his shorts. Reddening a little, she pulled her gaze up to the smear of dirt her fingers had brushed against his side.

"Bella?" Edward tried to sit up, but when Bella pushed back on his shoulder, he obligingly fell back on the sweet summer grass.

Brushing her fingers in the dirt, Bella deliberately cupped his chin, leaving a streak of dirt across the beautiful, strong lines of his jaw.

Rubbing one hand back in the dirt, Bella leaned down, slowly, to allow him to adjust to the sudden nearness of her scent. Her nose just barely nuzzled his cheek as she lightly left a kiss at the corner of his mouth. A second later she pressed a kiss to his jaw, and his breath, for he still hadn't broken the habit of actually inhaling and exhaling, caught in his throat. Her hand had pressed firmly onto his stomach during her ministrations, and as she trailed a serious of open mouthed kissed along his jawline and up to his ear, her fingers mimicked the path across his chest.

Unable to remain passive a moment longer, Edward cupped the back of her head, cradling her body with his other hand, and pulling her more fully atop of him. The movement slid Bella's hand across his chest, descending down until her fingers brushed the thin line of hair at his shorts.

Edward rolled them gently, trapping Bella beneath him and keeping his weight balanced over her on his feet and one hand. His free hand threaded up through her hair, releasing the silky strands and then smoothing across her cheek, pushing the rest of her hair behind her ear in gentle caress.

Bella let out a soft sigh as he pulled away, just enough to catch her gaze. Her hands had slid up the back of his shirt, rubbing the muscle there, until he captured her lips again. At the sudden move, her fingers scratched a path along his shoulder blade, and she felt him loosen his muscle so she didn't injure herself on his unyielding skin.

Edward had his feet outside of hers, his toes digging into the grass to keep himself hoisted above Bella, and effectively trapping her beneath solid, male vampire.

Both their feet were bare, and Bella wrapped one leg around his, soothing his cold with her heat. She paused, wondering if he would halt their caresses, but instead he let out something resembling a groan.

Did she do that to him?

Her toes slid along his calf, as if she couldn't bear to be parted with him. Edward dropped his rigid stance as she caught his lower lip in a kiss, bending a knee between her legs and balancing his weight on his elbow and leg.

After a few more tortuous moments, Edward let out another long groan that nearly ended in a growl as he tenderly pulled his mouth from hers and flipped over to flop heavily across the grass.

He reached out blindly, his fingers fumbling in the grass until he found her hand. He latched on tight, winding their fingers and pressing their palms together.

Pulling her hand toward him, Edward pressed his cool lips gently along the inside of her wrist, and sighed.

"Thank you, Bella." He let an eye drift shut, enjoying the rare moments in the sun and with Bella.

She was silent for a moment before giggling, a quiet, earnest laugh that warmed his still heart. He lazily opened one eye, raising an eyebrow and hiding a smile at her infectious grin.

Without waiting for him to ask, Bella pushed up his shirt again, and he looked down.

Dirt smudged the smooth expanse, up his sides, along his stomach, and one, perfect hand print across his pectoral. Bella giggled again, and he looked further down, noticing the dirt that trailed across his calf.

"It's on your face, too," Bella said, a little impishly.

Still a little confused as to her point, but willing to give her a smile anyway, just for lighting the dark spaces in his heart, Edward raised his eyebrow further.

"You're always so put together, so beautiful," she said, propping her head up with an elbow as she lay on her side, facing him. "I wanted to see what you would look like a little ruffled up." She gazed at him for a long while, studying his body.

"But you still look gorgeous," she said, just a little petulantly.

"Would you like me to go roll in that mud pile over there?" Edward asked, his voice completely serious. Bella checked his golden eyes, and saw the spark of laughter there. "Perhaps if you cannot see my skin for the mud you might reconsider your opinion?"

Smiling at his deadpan expression, Bella shook her head. "You'd probably still be beautiful. Edward, it's hard to keep up with you."

Now completely serious, Edward brought his hand to caress her cheek. "You are perfect, my Bella. Whether you are lying here, relaxing in the grass, or stuck in a downpour with the rain streaming down your face, whether you're in you pajamas before bed, or made up and ready to go out, you are beautiful, and vibrant, and alive," he said earnestly, his ocher eyes never flickering from hers. "You are perfect, and by some stretch of imagination, by some folly, you have decided to accept me as a companion. I could not wish for more, my love."

Horrified to find her vision blurring from a thin layer of tears, Bella blinked and gave him a tremulous smile. "Y-you sure know how to sweet talk a girl, Edward."

"It's only the truth, Bella," he said solemnly. Her continued trailing his fingers down across her cheek, down her neck and to the open scoop neck of her gauzy top.

When his mouth quirked up at the side, Bella furrowed her brow in confusion.

Then she saw the layer of dirt his fingers had left, and she let out a squeal of protest.

"Edward!"

He laughed, and she rammed her shoulder into his stomach, ending up on top of him, once more.

"That is not funny."

"Yes, love."

* * *

This was my first attempt at writing Twilight. I haven't read much in the Twilight fan fiction section, often reading Bones or Lois and Clark instead, so forgive me if there are a million Edward-and-Bella-in-the-sun stories. I'd appreciate hearing what you think... I wrote this for a friend of mine as a present, without planning to post it, but I finally decided to. Thanks for reading. :) 

Laura


	2. Your unassuming grace

I have decided to make this entire story a series of one-shots to update whenever I get my Edward muse. It doesn't happen often, as I find both him and Bella difficult to write, but sometimes it just can't be denied. Here's my latest humble offering. Please drop me a line to let me know what you think, I'd really appreciate it.

* * *

She is perfect.

The rain tears at the house, water pelting the windows like angry sobs, but in my bedroom, she sleeps on, unaware.

It is dark, but I can see her clearly in the night, asleep in my bed. Bella's hair is disheveled, strewn across the pillow in tangles I know she will curse in the morning, but she looks beautiful. Her pale skin glows in the stark, unforgiving flashes of lightning, revealing snatches of her to my gaze.

One flash, the graceful arch of her shoulders.

Another, her trim stomach, from where her tank top has ridden up.

Gently, I run my fingers along the satiny skin there, eventually pulling the material down to cover her. She hates being exposed, and even as she sleeps I cannot deny her.

I am unable to tear my gaze from her, my moody thoughts lightened by the clarity and starshine she brings into my lightless life. For some unfathomable reason, she loves me, and I have promised myself daily to love and cherish her.

It is such an easy promise to make, and one I have no intention of breaking.

But my love for her blinds me, and that troubles me. I'm staggered by her, utterly at the mercy of my own selfish nature. My life is one of shadows, of endless cloudy days and savage summer storms. The eventual sunshine, the rays of happiness and hope that pierce those clouds, is foreign to me, and yet it embodies Bella.

My Bella, asleep in my bed.

The knowledge warms my still heart, stirs the blood in me that does not heat. I have not touched her in any forward ways, and though she believes this is some fault of hers, it surely is not. She believes that I am not tempted, and I fear she holds a misguided idea of my self-restraint. Only my love for her keeps me from resisting her sweet smile, and her fumbling attempts at seduction.

Novice as she is, her attempts thrill me, and slice my already thin willpower to shreds.

The lightning flashes again, and thunder shudders my house. Bella instinctively curls around herself, whimpering slightly at the harsh sounds. Immediately I check to see if she has awakened, but she is still sleeping, though a crease mars the perfect skin of her forehead.

Frowning at this, I turn down the covers and slide in next to her. I slip my arms around her, she, the gentle flower in my diamond grip. In my cool arms, the worry lines slip from her face, and she snuggles closer. Her nose presses against my chest as she burrows there, and my arms come to hold her tighter, protectively.

Eventually she stills, and I suck in a long breath that is paradoxically completely unnecessary and utterly vital. She is beautiful, my Bella, and I know deep down in my soul that I will never love another with all the fierceness that I love her, not if I were to live a hundred thousand years and meet three times as many beautiful, accomplished women.

Another crash of thunder reverberates through the room, and Bella stirs in my arms, finally opening her eyes.

"E'ward?" she mumbles, sleeping turning her head in the vague direction of my face. She drops her head back down on my chest a second later, as if the movement was too much for her, and instead plants a sleepy kiss on my chest.

"Yes, love," I reply to her, brushing my hand affectionately across her long hair. She smiles, and I echo it in return.

"Like… you're here with me," she murmurs against my chest. Even my sensitive ears cannot decipher all that she said in her drowsy musings, but her meaning rings loud and clear and true and sincere.

"I like that you're here with me too," I say honestly. "I love you, Bella."

But she is already asleep, her fingers laced through mine and still.


	3. I feel my heart is turning

"Are you and my daughter sexually active?"

The thought must have just appeared in Charlie's mind when he asked it, because it took even me by surprise. I blinked, my only concession to the unfamiliar feelings of panic coursing through my still veins. Bella was upstairs, and Charlie was standing stiffly in front of me, his arms crossed on his chest and his feet planted squarely in the doorway.

He refused to let me in the house, and though I could have slipped past him without any semblance of a struggle, the mere notion of an angry father kept me riveted to the spot.

"Sir, I value your daughter's virtue, and because of such, I will do nothing to upset her." I tried to look him straight in the eye, but his steely gaze refused to back down, even as all his natural instincts must have been screaming for him to do so.

"That's not the answer to the question I asked," Charlie said flatly, still refusing to let me past him and into the relative safety of the house.

I straightened my shoulders, my instinct chastising me and saying that I was not some child to be bullied. I was a man. I was a vampire. I was over a hundred for heavens sake. There should be no reason for me to cower before a law enforcement officer in a small, country town.

Yet logic did not work in my favor, and I admit I stood blankly in front of my soul mate's father, utterly at a loss for words. Emmett would be happy to tell you that this is a rare occurrence.

Bella came down the stairs then, radiant in her blue jeans and simple cotton top, more beautiful than she could ever imagine. Her beauty, coupled with the awkward nature of Charlie's inquiry had me fidgeting, something I immediately halted as soon as I realized what I was doing.

Bella has this bizarre notion that I am perfect, that I am never ruffled. How wrong she is! It is a wonder she does not notice how flustered I do get in her presence. Or, as it appears, in the presence of her father when he is asking me pointed questions about his daughter's sex life.

In my day, the mere mention of the word in her presence would most likely have us married at gunpoint. Not that I would mind if this were to be my fate, the long suffering vampire that I am.

"You look stunning, Bella," I said, trying to crane my head to see her past Charlie's thick arm. He was leaning against the doorjamb now, scowling at me. This was the most emotion I've ever seen out of Charlie and it worried me.

"Bye," Bella said, slipping under her father's arm with ease and apparently not noticing the rigid lines of tension on his face. It was only when she tilted her head up to give him a final look that she noticed his proprietary stance.

She looked between me and her father, and when our eyes met, hers widened slightly. She could feel my discomfort.

"Well, time to go now," she tried, attempting to beat a hasty retreat. Charlie reached out to grab her shoulder, gently, I noticed, and kept her still.

"Not so fast, Bella."

Once he appeared satisfied that Bella would not run away as soon as he released her arm, he loosened his grip and she stumbled to my side.

Now we both faced him, a thick wall of tension enveloping us all.

"You've come to an age where there will be choices to make, Bella," he began. He looked uncomfortable, but determined. Unwavering. Inwardly, I groaned.

Bella still did not have a the faintest idea what was going on, but she recognized the potential for embarrassment when she saw it, and a becoming blush fired her cheeks.

"Sexual," Charlie coughed, and his mind debated between darting back to his chair and burying his nose in his paper or continuing the prolonged torture. "Sexual intercourse is a natural thing, but it is not something I want for you to be engaged in presently, Bella."

I cursed in my head, my roiling inward emotions quite at odds with the calm look I projected on my face.

_Must be calm for Bella, must be calm for Bella, must be calm for Bella…_

I repeated the mantra continually, but my projected calmness did nothing to soothe her. She let out a cry of embarrassment when the first word left Charlie's mouth, and her cheeks, which had been a pleasant, dusky rose, turned a firecracker red.

"Now, now Bella. Edward is a fine young man. But he is a man and a teenager to boot. The teenage male's mind is constantly occupied with sexual thoughts, which I realize might come as a surprise to you, Bella."

I blinked again, as Charlie continued as if I was not standing but three inches from his daughter in all her innocent, angelic virtue. I was suddenly quite pleased that Charlie was not a mind reader, as images from our heated embraces quickly flashed through my mind. Bella, in those cases, was almost always the catalyst, always urging us closer and closer to that insurmountable pinnacle. I coughed, just for something to do.

Bella had gone completely red, almost so red that it alarmed me. And Charlie simply continued preaching on the evils of the horny, teenage male.

I could actually believe most of what he was saying, having been in the minds of every male teenager in Forks. They really did think about sex often. At the most peculiar times, thought processes would flit from musings on breakfast, to bizarre video games, to fantasies of sex in closets, on desks, against blackboards, in garbage dumpsters, and other predictably impossible, highly unsanitary places.

When Mike Newton had these types of thoughts about Bella, I usually had to skip a few class periods to cool my ire and rage.

I tuned back in to Charlie, who had finally winded down. Bella looked like she wanted to sink into the floor, and I inched closer to her, ready to grab her if she decided to bolt.

With a nod to me, Charlie then bid us goodnight and went back to his paper and sports game, his mind already on the upcoming basketball tip-off.

We stood there for a moment, completely still.

After a full minute of this, as if in agreement, we walked stiffly to the car, the awkward silence pervading the air between us in a way that made me want to growl and turn back time.

"Does he know?" Bella asked me in a hushed whisper, her face a veritable tomato.

"That his daughter is completely and totally not the angelic being he pictures her as? No. In Charlie's mind, I am still the demon creature hell bent on seducing you."

"Goodness, he's taking a rather long time to catch on."

"Bella," I warned, not wishing to get into this with her now. Not when I was still smarting from an unfamiliar chastising.

"But I corrupted you and stole your virtue a loooong time ago," she said cheerfully, all traces of her blush gone. The little sneak. My little perfect, beautiful, corrupted devil.

I shook my head.

"Three times last night if I remember correctly."

"Bella!"

* * *

Hehe. This was supposed to be a joke, by the way. I know there's hardly any chance of Bella and Edward being "together" like that, and Bella certainly isn't as good as an actress as I portrayed her:) This came in my head and demanded to be written, so I hope you enjoy, or it gives you a smile.

Thank you for all of the lovely reviews so far!


	4. stardust to remember you by

Hi guys. :) Good to see you! I want to give a friendly warning about this one. This chapter is a** strong T**, but I don't think it's an M. However, I know that there are quite a few younger readers out here. There's some mention of sex and some awkward moments abound in this chapter. If you're old enough, read on. And please let me know what you think. Anyone excited for Aug. 2? :)

* * *

"Come on, Edward, you know it won't kill you to do this."

I knew as soon as the words left my mouth that a smirk was going to slip right on that gorgeous and unfairly smug face of my undead boyfriend. Wait for it… wait for it…

Yes, there it was. Damn. He even makes conceited-smug look good. Giving him my own version of his patented "be reasonable" eyebrow, I tried again.

"You of all people should understand that this would mean the world to Alice. Why are you being difficult?"

We were lying on the roof of his Volvo, parked on the far end of the Cullen lot. I had been over all day, under the pretense of finishing a school project with Alice and Edward. It wasn't a complete lie either. There really was a project and it really was completed today.

I just wasn't going to be the one to tell Charlie that Edward had finished the entire thing based on his own memories of World War II. After the four seconds it had taken for me to scrawl my name under Edward's elegant script and alongside Alice's, we rolled up the paper and tucked it in Edward's messenger bag. I spent the rest of the day pleasantly: kissing Edward, attempting to help Alice enroll in an online course in psychology, kissing Edward, football with Emmett and Edward, being Carlisle's test audience for his lecture on something I couldn't even pronounce, kissing Edward, eating dinner in front of Edward and Alice, walking with Edward, kissing Edward, and now, finally, badgering Edward.

"Don't you dare be difficult," I admonished him, slightly overwhelmed by the role reversal we were currently playing at. "What's your deal, anyway?"

Edward rolled over on his side, away from me. I wanted to grab the back of his shirt to keep him from tipping off the edge of the sleek car, but I figured trying that would only send me flying off the car somehow.

"My deal," he stressed, sounding slightly put out and very un-Edwardly, "is that I simply don't believe that psychology is a valid science. Biology, chemistry, physics, it all can be proven and worked with. The results are… concrete. Psychology is sheer conjecture. And certainly I don't want to be Alice's lab rat."

He looked over his shoulder at me, the dim light from the house infusing a ribbon of gold in his black-brown eyes. He hadn't fed in quite a few days, I realized, and while this should alarm me, it only made me sigh.

A hungry Edward is a crabby Edward. Not that he's not still gorgeous, even with his irises so black they begin to merge with his pupils. The full moon lent an ethereal glow to his pale features, and my breath caught slightly as his gaze refused to part from my own.

He was still facing away from me, and I reached out a slightly trembling hand to skim down the cool length of his back. The stone muscle beneath arched under my touch, and a hazy glow slipped over his eyes.

"Sorry Bella," he sighed, laying his head down on his arm with a slightly audible 'thunk.'

I continued to rub his back, massaging the tense muscle. He was leaning on his side, slightly away from me to give better access to the long planes of his back. I have no idea what he feels when I do this. On one hand, he could crush me with his pinky. I can't imagine that my gentle caresses actually unknot any of his tension. On the other hand, however, I've noticed that when I touch Edward for long periods of time, not that that happens with any kind of regularity, mind you, he grows more docile than a kitten.

It's extremely hard to reconcile scary, growly, Bella-is-in-danger-I-must-protect-her Edward with kitten-Edward.

The fingers on my left hand were cheerfully kneading the muscle at the slope above his jutting shoulder-blade when he stiffened and turned to stone beside me.

"Edward?" I asked, somewhat anxious, but altogether too relaxed to dredge up any real worry.

"Bella," the words sounded like they were coming from gritted teeth. Glancing down, I saw that his handsome face was currently frozen in what looked like a grimace.

"Edward?"

"Bella, your hand—I can't…"

Surprised at his words, I unconsciously clenched and released both of my hands, and jumped when a gasp shuddered through his body. "Bella!"

What on earth was he talking about? My left hand was on his shoulder-blade. Now, of course, we haven't talked much about shoulder-blades, his or mine. Perhaps there's a secret vampire ticklish spot there? Or, I tensed, what if… what if a shoulder-blade was a vampire's Achilles' heel? Was he in pain?

As I mused on the subject, still baffled as to why Edward was letting out a slight groan, I glanced down the length of our bodies.

Holy mother of God!

I sprang away from him as if burned, letting out a sharp squeal of surprise when my momentum sent me tumbling from my precarious position atop the Volvo.

There was barely time to let out a breathless "Edward" as the ground chivalrously rushed up to meet me, but I landed on something hard with a crash. It let out an oomph, so I assumed it wasn't the ground, though.

Edward helped me stand, a rueful look on his strong features. I dared to sneak a peak downwards and flushed immediately.

He was still, ah, um, happy to see me.

I am so blaming this whole incident on him, though. It's rather difficult, I now realize, when your boyfriend is made of muscle as hard as rock to distinguish between a…a…

Shoot, I can't even think it without blushing.

EdwardhadanerectionandIwasfeelinghimupwithoutrealizingitbecauseitwasashardashislegmuscle.

Deep breath. There, I thought it. Time to overanalyze.

Edward had an erection.

_Okay. Way foreign territory here. Did I give him that? Erections are not exactly my specialty. Does he expect me to… ah… administer to it…him? Shoot. Can I even ask him that? Will Esme and Carlisle hear me?! DID ALICE KNOW THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN?_

I was feeling him up without realizing it.

_Oh Alice so knew. That conniving…vampire. Sure. Let's see what happens the next time you ask me to help you convince Edward of something. Oh my god. Did she tell Emmett? DOES EMMETT KNOW?!_

It… he was as hard as his leg muscle!

_Now this has got to be a problem unique to me. It's probably easy to realize on any other guy when slightly yielding stomach or leg muscle gives way to the sheer hardness of the… e word. Erection. Gah, I still can't think it. Edward's always hard. Oh, wrong choice of words. I mean he's always… the muscle in his leg feels exactly the same as the muscle in his… you know. I must be turning 278 different shades of red right now. _

I dared a peek at Edward. He was waiting patiently for me to come back to myself. A glance down.

_Is that whole thing supposed to fit in me? Ut-uh. That is so not going to work. _

"Bella, you're making me nervous," Edward said, reaching a hand up to skim through his copper hair. "I apologize for my state. It's very inappropriate."

_Inappropriate? Edward? Did I really just feel him up? Damn. I wish I was paying more attention. Who performs their first handjob without even realizing it?_

"Does Alice know?" I blurted out.

I really must frustrate poor Edward. It's hard enough for him to cope with the knowledge that he can't read my thoughts whenever the fancy strikes him. When my own thoughts are racing faster than my mouth, I must really drive him nuts.

He looked at me carefully, and I knew I must look slightly deranged.

Well how would you look if you realized you had just given the most gorgeous guy in the world a massive…e-word?

"I'm sorry. I didn't know I was touching you… there."

"It's okay."

I blinked, totally unsure of what to say next. Edward was sitting there with his chest heaving though he had no need to breathe, and I was forcing back the urge to go kiss him.

But now the subject had arisen, so to speak (I had to stifle a giggle here,) it wouldn't go away. I was curious, dang it.

"That doesn't…" _Was I really going to ask him this? _"That doesn't hurt, does it?"

_Why yes, apparently, I was. _

His eyes widened, and I think he was regretting not just giving in to my pleadings earlier. If he had, we would no doubt be sitting inside the house acting as Alice's guinea pigs. I don't think standing opposite me with a raging erection and answering my curious questions was what he had planned to happen. Ever.

"Um… No. No, it doesn't hurt, per say."

I absorbed this, snatching the remaining shreds of my courage.

"Did I do that to you when I touched you… there?"

A sound filtered through the cool night air then, a sound that relaxed all my tensions easily. His chuckle, light and fizzing over me like thousands of champagne bubbles.

"Come here, Bella," he said softly.

I stepped hesitantly into his arms and he pulled me to him, exhaling against my hair. His lips touched my temple in caress so affectionate, it stole my breath. He was still hard against my stomach, and I held still, categorizing the feeling.

"I'm sorry you had to witness this, my Bella. I usually am much more discreet around you. I'm afraid you simply took me by surprise."

My eyes were wider than saucers.

"This has happened before?"

He raised an eyebrow and I knew it meant he was dead serious.

"Of course, Bella. It's difficult to control my reactions to you. You're so effortlessly beautiful. So graceful."

I snorted at that, but still blushing from his praise.

"I'm serious, Bella," he whispered into my hair. "You think you are not graceful, you think you are merely satisfactory. You are so wrong. The way you walk, so sure of yourself, so lightly. You light up the room, sweetheart, and you brighten the darkness in my life."

I let out a little shuddering breath at his words, and he bent his head to nuzzle against my collarbone.

It was a few moments before I could speak, and when I did, I couldn't help it.

"Does Alice know?"

His answering, rueful grin was all I needed to know. I buried my head against his shirt, certain I was never going to live this down. Alice would tell Jasper, and probably Emmett, who would certainly tell Rosalie, which would then filter to Esme who would let Carlisle in on the fact that I was _giving their son a handjob on their DRIVEWAY._

Oh my gosh.

Sometimes I wonder why I don't just take Edward up on his offer to move to Alaska.


End file.
